Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

When I learn that there was a remake of the classic series, i asked myself, what kind of mess are they getting themselves into? After the opening few moments of the movie, i only said to myself, how wrong was i to underestimate the decision ... because easily this could be one of the best animes ever made in history.

First off, years ago, i was decently hooked on the TV series version. When i finished it, i was honestly quiet upset that the plot was going to heck at many points, not providing a decent link to things. I always liked the earlier episodes where Shinji and gang battle all the angels that attacked, but i didn't quite enjoy how things were towards the end ...

Death & Rebirth was a good attempt to try to provide a better ending to the series. But frankly i always felt it wasn't enough ... years later, thank god we may have the best version of the Evangelion saga in the making ... starting with "You Are (Not) Alone".

Not just additional artwork and more CG enhancements are added into the movie, the story summarizes the opening few episodes of the original series and (this is my own opinion) tweaked the script alittle. It's a lot easier to understand the plot and intention of the characters, and with all the plot making more sense than the original series, all you need next is the action.

The fights between the angels and the Eva 01 (and 00') are much more interesting to watch, as the fights seem much longer and more details are added into how the battles are fought. Remember the first time Shinji pilots the EVA01 into battle and it went berserk? I'm much more excited this time when i watched the fight scene! As for the cinematic experience, i don't think watching it on DVD does this movie any justice. If you can, do attempt to catch this in a CINEMA because the experience is very much rewarding! I'm thankful i didn't miss this movie version, it's worth every cent i paid! I don't need to go into the plot of the movie, you can easily pick it up from internet sites, just know that this isn't the end yet and business is going to pick up once the next one comes along. Shinji is still how everyone remembers him to be ... the hedgehog dilemma comes into mind when you talk about him and he's still like that in this movie! I hope this comment will send more people rushing into the cinema to catch this movie, after i was done, i felt sorry that so many seats in the cinema are empty ... everyone has missed out on this masterpiece edition of the Evangelion series!

While I knew a little about the Japanese anime Neon Genesis Evangelion through the reading of various fan sites dedicated to it, I've never actually sat down and watched an episode of the series. So when opportunity came by to experience the Rebuild of Evangelion, why not start the slate clean?

Rebuild of Evangelion is actually a tetralogy based on the original anime series by the same creative team, but it's not exactly a shot-by-shot rehash in that it does include some extra scenes, and I guess the objective is to allow the tetralogy to encapsulate what worked in the original, while at the same time to perhaps make it the more definitive telling of the story. Kind of like how comic books like to do the various reboots and tweaking of origins to suit the times.

We're introduced to Shinji Ikari, the teenage kid whose father Gendo is commander of an organization called NERV, which developed the Evangelion mechas to fight against alien Angels who invade Earth. To a layman like me, it's something like Ultraman battling monsters, except that are certain constraints here that make Evangelions interesting. Firstly, they are dependent on launch pads and are wired to NERV control, and what more, piloting these sophisticated mechas involves some bio-fusion between children, and the bots. Imagine having the fate of the world resting on the shoulders of a child, and what more, a rookie one in Shinji, who has to learn the ropes on the job. To complicate matters, he's the reluctant hero who whines a lot, is indecisive, and seems like he could lose it all anytime.

But that's exactly what makes Evangelion a joy to watch. The flawed heroes, compounded by the fact that with every increasingly powerful Angel to battle, the Evangelions seem to be more patched and repaired after each encounter, you'd wonder how long it could hold up before actually crumbling. The battle sequences here are nothing less than spectacular to watch, as we discover along with the heroes, just how best to defeat the vastly different Angels. Animation wise there's nothing to specially shout out about, as it's quite standard 2D fair with the usual attention to details.

Being the introductory movie, this film begins quite unconventionally in the thick of the action to grip your attention and never let up. As it moves along, it does drop hints of previous incidents, while introducing us to new characters along the way, expanding its mythos and universe. And in all intents, it does leave many doors opened for questioning, and it's almost definite that these would (hopefully) be answered in the subsequent films. Oh, and for action junkies, I give the thumbs up for the final battle in this movie - the creative team really do know how to make everything look really bleak!

For those who are new to the series, I quite sure this will serve as an excellent starting platform into the Evangelion universe. For those who have already been in the loop (and probably hated the series ending), this could be interesting for you to see what changes were made, and whether you will prefer the tetralogy instead.

Evangelion has been a never-ending cash cow for Gainax and all associated parties since it was released, so it's not surprising that they've decided to go back to the well with a four-movie revision of the original series. The new movies offer a chance to see Evangelion animated with the budget that such a famous title deserves. The fight scenes are slick and everything is well put-together. It's not absolute top of the line animation, and it hews very closely to the default anime art style, but it's certainly better than the infamously low-budget original animation.

My memory of the original series is a little hazy, but what's shocking about this movie is how close it sticks to the TV show. Several scenes are line-for-line, shot-for-shot reprises of scenes from the original, and as far as I could tell there weren't any major changes in the plot, although I think the order of the Angels might have been shuffled around a bit. The main change is tightening everything up and making it an efficient, fast-moving giant robot action movie.

And that's fine if your main problem with Evangelion was the lack of action, but it also removes a lot of the show's style, and completely eliminates its almost meditative pace. With an actual animation budget, the show doesn't need animation shortcuts like the long almost-still scenes that crop up periodically, but losing those makes Evangelion lose some of its definitive flavour. A lot of the moments in the movie just don't have the emotional impact that their equivalents in the TV series do -- it's just one plot point after another.

Evangelion 1.0 is an effective movie, and retains some of the original's charm. But all the same I feel I can't really recommend it to anyone. If you've seen the TV show, this will all be a retread for you. If you haven't, then I would still recommend the original over this remake. The original series was far from perfect, and there was a bunch of room for a new interpretation of the general story, but Evangelion 1.0 chooses to play it safe and winds up being kind of forgettable.

I was a large fan of both the original series, the half-release 'Death and Rebirth' and the replacement ending 'The End of Evangelion', so I'm not giving this praise as some guy who's just walked in on this.

I am extremely pleased with this new iteration of Evangelion. I don't even know where to begin ... Gainax threw out everything they had, completely redrawing all the animation and backgrounds in painstakingly high detail. It is the most apparent revision to the series at first glance ... all the visuals are top-notch, even the computer-generated graphics which I would typically find unforgivable in a film - but everything is drawn and animated so smooth, and the rare use of CG is so well-integrated into the film that it feels like you haven't been taken out of the organic animation at all.

The storyline is quite similar to the original, though first on the side I want to say they've taken much thought deciding how to develop the characters better; and the result is that the cast is much more believable and their chemistry is quite fantastic. The characters just feel deeper, their emotions are more genuine; it's hard to describe in a review but if you're a fan of the original series you'll find their personalities and interactions much more developed and satisfying.

The plot, as I've said; has not changed too much at this point.. there are exceptions here and there, with the introductions of pivotal locations and characters earlier on; no doubt to lay down continuity for the later installments. (The original Evangelion had a slight problem with eclectic character and plot point introductions.) They have taken care to set the stage more carefully for the first scene this time around; and as shown with the early introduction of an important character Gainax intends to make full use of some fantastic characters that didn't get enough time in the spotlight to really add anything especially deep.

I recommend this film to anybody who is a fan of serious animation; and I would say that it's an absolute must-see for fans of the original series.

It's comforting to know that in a world of poor remakes and extensions of popular titles, that Gainax has their wits about them and shows true dedication in their efforts to make Evangelion into everything that it could possibly be.

Evangelion 1.11 is basically a retelling of the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series ep1-6 with very few deviations from the original. Of course, this is a decade newer with a much larger budget, so the animation quality itself is vastly superior, spectacular by every sense of the word. If I have any complaints they are that this new version simplifies the characters and their faults (in my opinion, the crowning achievement of the original show) and instead focuses more on action and intense battle scenes. However, this directorial decision also makes the whole thing more streamlined and accessible for the average anime fan. Finally, the English dub of this film is fantastic, practically as good as the original Japanese audio and that's saying something!

Suggested rating: PG-13 for violence and brief nudity